This is something of a diversion from my usual Books, Movies,
Movies, Books motif, and yet, not quite.
This summer I’ll be teaching a portion of a kids’ summer
camp. The portion I’ll be handling is props and sets. Yes, it is a kids’
theater summer camp. And I don’t suspect these are your usual set of kids at
summer camp. The last group of young people I worked with at this theater were anything
but typical. I was gauche enough to ask one of them, “so, what do you wanna do
when you finish school?” (Thank heavens, I didn’t say, “what do you wanna be
when you grow up” although he may have seen through the question.) The young person just sort of looked at me like I was some
sort of asymmetrical alien and said, “I AM an actor.” These kids are the real
deal. Precocious, intensely mature at times, fun-loving, vibrant, intense… and
serious about their craft.
During the intensive, the young people write, perform, and
direct their own one-act plays. And I’ll be there as a facilitator of props and
sets made from pulled/found objects. Perparing for the summer intensive made my little gerbil begin to come
out of hibernation and put his wee little gerbil brain toward thoughts of
facilitating, building, and thinking about props and sets as they help to
construct a story.
(This is the part where I lap over into Books, Movies,
Movies, Books.)
Whether it’s film, stage, or on paper, it really is an
interplay of all of the moving parts: acting, script/dialogue/writing,
sets/scene/setting, lighting, sounds, direction. Everything has to be firing on
all cylinders or the performance, (or book), is going to clunk.
And it’s nice if all of these things sort of hang together.
In a stage production of THE SECRET GARDEN, I was blown out of my seat by the
sets. In it, they chose to go with ghostly silhouettes for the set – shadowy windows
with billowing sheers, actors in wispy white to represent those who were
ghosts, minimalist designs. The music has an ethereal, ghostly quality to it
with a background that could be the ghost of a mother… or the wind in the
trees.
In the stage production of THE LION
KING, the actors, sets, and costumes become one, with the actors taking on the
role of puppeteers to create the undulating effects of a herd of gazelle. Their
human legs become animal legs. The hands of many manipulate massive puppets,
(or are they costumes?) to trick the viewer into seeing a giraffe.
Alternately, in the film, SIXTH SENSE, you may want to
re-watch it. I will not spoil it for anyone who has not seen it yet, but I suggest you look at the use of the color red. Is it a portal?
And in the book, THE GIVER, by Lois Lowry, scene and set
play a pivotal role in the story. Again, no spoilers from me, but you may want to read
it, then think about how one would create a set and props for the stage
production. I was props master for that production locally and it was an amazing adventure!
On my own desk, there is a growing theatrical stage. Brown
paper has twisted and morphed into mushrooms and a twisted, brown paper sparrow
is flying from one door of the book shelf. There is a theme amongst all of
these creatures. It has something to do with the twisting of words on paper to
create an alternate reality.
A common question that gets circulated among writers is “what
music do you write to?” Here’s my question. “What props do you use to help create your stories?”
So that’s my new advice to writers, young actors, and
creative people in any branch of the arts and sciences. Bring the entire
ensemble together. Don’t forget to turn on some music every once in a while,
but also, don’t forget to run a string through all of the moving parts and see
where it takes your creative mind.
And the title of this blog? It is an hommage to The Wizard of Oz. I just came from seeing OZ at the theater. The opening credits are inspiring. The rest of the film... meh, but I may go back to see it again, because you can never tell in one viewing - or reading - what magic you may have missed... behind the curtain.
